Don’t mistake that faraway look in my eyes as boredom.
No, I’m not ignoring you either, and I’m far from falling asleep.

Writer.

What I’m doing is plotting. There are ideas all around us and sometimes you must stop and think about how one little item that caught your interest can work into a story. How one little phrase you overheard can be worked into a conversation. Or maybe it’s a news item you saw the night before, that’s been sitting in the back of your mind, wondering how it can create an alternative universe or whole new world and a completely different series.
I would say half of my writing time is spent daydreaming. But not daydreaming in a useless way. These daydreams are a productive thought gathering, plotting exercise. Let’s face it our minds are our biggest tools, probably the only tool we need, other than a writing devise. When we let allow our thought to wander where-ever they want, we can produce some great concepts.
If we don’t use this tool regularly, it will become dull and foggy. We need to sharpen our minds and use it to the fullest potential possible. This might mean thinking of things outside of the realm of your normal everyday expectations. If you don’t use those tools and you allow them to become dull and unproductive, you’re heading down the road to writer’s block, I’m sure of it.

Fortunately, I have a very active imagination and I love to tell stories; never seeming to run out of ideas. Instead the opposite happens. Too many ideas bounce around in my head, often causing difficulty in concentrating on one story line at a time. Thankfully, I’ve never experienced writer’s block.
I keep my mind sharp and I keep thinking and imagining: creating scenarios out of nothing, forming conversations between characters and asking a lot of “what ifs. A good exercise is to have somebody just toss you a word. See what you can do with it; whether it’s a phrase, an object or an action— weave it into your story. Give your story on a new twist, make your characters do something unexpected. Remember if it holds your interest, it will also hold your readers.

Find a way of recording those ideas, be a pen and paper or your phone or your computer. Jot them down when you get them and please, don’t tell yourself that you’ll remember. It seems the minute you do this, you’ve already set yourself up to forget them. Honestly, with so many thoughts going to our mind daily just with our everyday actions it’s sometimes impossible to remember what we need to get through the day.
Don’t discard an idea or thought path simple because it doesn’t fit your current work in progress. Jot it down and put it in a file for future work. Keeping a file of ideas is another way to fight writer’s block or adding a twist to your story that will keep it original and interesting.So, what did you see or hear today that created a “what if idea”?

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” .99 Cent Books – November 11-12, 2017How about trying some new authors?The books listed on this page are 99c on November 11-12 2017 (US time), and often at other times as well (please verify the price before you buy).This site is run by Renée Pawlish, author of mysteries, YA action/adventure, and other stories. Sign up for Renée’s mailing list to receive more free books, and to receive news about contests, special offers, and more.If you’re not in the US or UK, note that some authors have used Kindle Countdowns to discount their books, and that the lower price may not apply.If you don’t have a subscription to Kindle Unlimited, you can get it here. With Kindle Unlimited, you can get over 1 million titles and thousands of audiobooks on any device for only $9.99 a month.”

Well, thanks to day-light-savings, it’s getting darker a lot earlier. And if you’re like me, that means your time outdoors is getting cut short. So what are you going to do with the extra indoor time? Clean?

Not me! This is the time of year when I catch up with my writing goals. And my reading list! All summer I promise myself I will read from the pile of books I have waiting for me. But the call of warm sultry nights and outside adventures call me away from my books.

Now I can explore the works of my favorite authors and discover new authors. I look forward to the next book in a series I started earlier in the year, wondering what the characters have been up to since I last visited their pages. Every day, new books are being published by first time authors, and it’s exciting to become familiar with their work.

My own writing can get the attention it wants as well. This is the time to get my books ready for publication and continue towards my goals. Many writers spend the month of November participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and there is a sense of purpose in the writing community to meet the goal of writing a 50,000 word novel by the end of the month. Or at least the first draft.

I am thrilled that I have a new book out this month. It’s the box set of my first three Citrus Beach Mysteries. It’s perfect for a reader who missed these books the first time around, or a new reader who would like to save a little money and buy a bundle of books.

So, no matter what you decide to do in the darkening evening hours, save some time to read!

It can be a lonely world out there for an indie writer. You can be lost or overwhelmed easily, but we have resources at our fingertips that can help us along. One writer went to the extreme to help other writers. I’m pleased to introduce Kathryn Bax (Pen name Kathryn McMaster)as my guest blogger for this week.

I’m going to let Catherine tell you a little bit about her story and about the great website that she’s put together for writers and readers alike. I’m proud to be part of this website and of course you can find all of my books there. But it’s not just my books; there’s a vast number of writers from different genres. So, you be sure to go to the website and start picking out some great books to read.

One Stop Fiction for Readers and Writers

We all like to read free and discounted books, don’t we? Who doesn’t like a bargain? I co-founded One Stop Fiction for two reasons. The first was to provide readers with quality books at discounted rates, the other was as an author I was frustrated at the lack of places I could be seen, other than my own author Facebook pages and website. How could I make sure that my book was on a permanent website, rubbing shoulders with books from my peers? Along came the idea for the website.

However, 9 months ago, the idea hadn’t even been born yet. I was still frantically trying to finish my first novel. Once I was nearly finished I realized that I needed some ideas on how to market it. There was no point in writing a book that nobody would see.

So I paid a squillion to join a course on book marketing only to be bitterly disappointed. It had not stated on sign up that the course was primarily for non-fiction writers. I took very little away from the course and felt rather disgruntled. I was not the only one. Other fiction authors were very unhappy too.

So, being the rebel that I am, I decided to break away from the group and start my own Facebook group where we could all learn from each other and share marketing ideas. The group soon grew to well over 1000 members. However, after listening to the feedback from the new group, there seemed a need to provide a platform where writers could connect to readers and vice versa.

I had built and run several websites of my own before this. I was no stranger to HTML and website jargon. However, I knew that we needed a site that would be more than a ‘mom and pop’ venture. We needed something slick and professional, easy to use and attractive to look at.

In the previous disgruntled group were two very special people; Shaun Griffiths, a Young Adult author who would become our Content Manager, and Alex Okros; an author of short stories (still unpublished) and the published author of a time-management book.

We fast became Internet friends. One day I said to Alex that I was thinking of starting up a website for authors. He said that he too had had the exact same idea. I said that it was all very well and good to have lofty ideas but website platforms did not come cheap. Who would we get to build it? He started to chuckle and said, “Oh, didn’t I tell you? I am a computer programmer and my girlfriend designs websites.” Sometimes, some things are just meant to be.

The website was released to the public on 8/8/2016 which we hope is an auspicious date – not that we are at all superstitious! Already hundreds of books have been added to the site and we are thrilled to see how many people have entered our monthly competition to win a Kindle eReader Paperwhite worth $119. The competition is open to all, no matter where you live. There is no joining fee, and to say thank you for your subscription you have a choice of 30 free e-books to read.

So please come and join us, have some fun, and be prepared to find some great books!

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I love working on cross over promotions with other authors.

It’s great to be included with writers working together to help each other get the word out about our books.

Even better the reader (YOU) benefit!

So today and tomorrow take advantage of some great books at a great price! Just click on the link below and then make your selections. Don’t forget to pick up the newest Citrus Beach Mystery at this low price. Look for Tank full of Trouble.